Search This Blog

As a journalist I have written about social issues and international affairs for the Guardian, the Independent, New Internationalist, Huffington Post, Equal Times and the Big Issue in the North, among other titles. I now work at the University of Leeds as a qualified careers professional, helping international students fulfill their career ambitions

Subscribe to this blog

Follow by Email

The day Bilbao invaded Manchester: A personal account.

In the context of world football Manchester United vs. Athletic
Bilbao was not considered an especially important fixture. For me, however, it
was hugely significant. This was a match I had been waiting to see for as long
as I could recall, with both clubs representing two sides of my mixed heritage
and competing for my support.

Raised in Manchester, I had grown up a United supporter, but
through my mother’s side of the family also qualified as a fan of Athletic
Club. Supporting Bilbao was neither fun nor fashionable, yet despite their
limited success family members would often remind me of their merits; their
policy of signing only Basque players, their record number of ‘Copas’ (Spanish
FA cups), the fact they have never been relegated from the top tier of Spanish
football.

The morning of the match I went to Old Trafford to interview
Athletic fans. I asked for their thoughts on the match, its historical
significance and their impressions of Manchester. Nobody I spoke to was old enough to remember the last time
these two teams met in 1957, but everybody remembered the date. Played over two
legs, United won with an aggregate score of 6-5, though several Athletic
supporters preferred to remember the score in the first leg: “It was a
legendary occasion”, said one fan, “We’ve heard a lot about those matches,
especially the first leg which we won 5-3 at San Mames.”

On Manchester, the consensus appeared to be that while the
city has much to offer culturally, food is not among its strengths. This is hardly
surprising given the extent to which the Basques pride their rich and famous culinary
scene. “You might beat us at football, but you’ll never beat our food”, one man
quipped. It would later emerge we can’t beat them at either.

In the afternoon I was invited to give an interview at BBC
Radio Manchester to explain my unusual relationship with both clubs and give a
brief pre-match analysis. I made two predictions - United to win 2-1 and the
young prodigy Iker Muniain to score for Bilbao - only one of which
materialised.

Seated in the North Stand that evening the atmosphere was beyond
anything I have previously experienced at a Old Trafford. My position between
the two most vociferous sections of the crowd – the Stretford End and the away
stand – could hardly have been more apt, and though the home fans far
outnumbered the Basques they were out-voiced from the start (see video below). As
chants of “Athletic!” rang around the stadium I was reminded of the first
football match I ever went to some 11 years ago at San Mames. On that occasion
their opponents were Alavés, another Basque side, and the crowd sang with a
fervency I hadn’t witnessed again until this moment.

Driven by their star players Muniain and Fernando Llorente and
aided by the intensity of their support, the Basque underdogs skilfully
outplayed United. This was football as it should be played. It had everything;
pace, flair, crisp passing, chances at both ends and goals of rare beauty as
both teams attacked relentlessly. The pinnacle moment came in the 90th
minute, when Muniain raced into the area
with impossible speed to strike the ball past de Gea into the roof of the net.
At 3-1 up the away fans reacted with deafening delirium, and though Rooney
would pluck one back for the reds it proved insufficient as the Basques
triumphed 2-3.

As thousands of United fans trudged away at the final
whistle, it emerged that hundreds of the people seated around me had in fact
been closeted Bilbao fans all along. No longer able to contain their joy I
watched in amazement as they broke into song, hugging one another and jumping
up and down ecstatically. Many tore off their coats and jumpers to reveal
Athletic t-shirts and scarves hidden underneath.

Armed with a Dictaphone I approached them for their reaction.

“It’s beyond words”, cried one, “to see Athletic play that well against
Manchester United, a great team, I can’t describe it…”

“I thought it was going to be a much more difficult game”,
said another gleefully “I can’t believe we played so well!”

Leaving Old Trafford the people of Bilbao took the party to
the streets of Manchester in their decidedly boisterous – though never
threatening – style, to celebrate a night they would never forget.

The following day I reflected on the match and Bilbao’s
incredible performance. It is to their credit that Athletic boasts an enviable
squad full of young talent which has been nurtured by the club over a number of
years. It is sad to think that many of their best players will probably be gone
by September, poached by richer sides who dominate the monopolised world of
football. But it is also refreshing to witness the affinity which their fans
clearly have with the players, almost all of whom were born in the region, and
none of whom behave in that spoilt child, materialist manner which has come to define
the modern day footballer.

Many United fans have since spoken with warmth of their
brief encounter with the Basques. At the time of writing it is possible Bilbao
may play Manchester City in the semi-finals of the EUROPA league. For reasons
not limited to football it is to be hoped that they return.

Comments

Thank you for welcoming us. We had tremendous fun in Manchester and really look forward to playing Man Utd again. Not so sure about City...

I was one of the so-called "Operation Chameleon". I had Utd scarf, cap and ear muffs, but an Athletic top under the coat. Luckily, one of the stewards was relocating Athletic supporters from the lower east stand to the corner, so I asked and my prayers were answered. I shouted, laughed, cried, and sang my heart out.

Popular posts from this blog

Most people are able to place a small bet once in a while
without suffering any real consequences beyond losing a tenner. However, for a
small minority, gambling can become a serious addiction with the power to destroy
lives.
In the UK, it’s estimated that around 350,000 people suffer from an
addiction to gambling – recently classified as a disorder in the latest edition
of the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM V) – and those numbers
are growing.
Last week the Guardian hosted a debate in collaboration with
Discuss, where two expert speakers debated whether or not gambling is now out
of control. Here’s what they thought:
If members of the audience were in any doubt about the
potential for gambling to cause harm, few remained unconvinced after hearing
the first speaker, Paul Buck, recount his personal story. Buck who is the
founder of EPIC, a problem gambling consultancy, began his career in retail shortly
after graduating …

(Originally published by the Big Issue in the North)
The family of a 41-year-old nurse from Stockport who died in
2005 are to be granted a fresh inquest following their investigation into the strange
circumstances surrounding her death and relationship with the former head of
ethics of the British Medical Association (BMA).
After an original inquest into the death of Carole Myers
returned an open verdict, the Felstead family obtained her psychiatric and
medical records which revealed she had undergone “recovered memory” therapy
sessions on the NHS from the age of 21.
During these sessions she was given psychotropic drugs and was
encouraged to believe she had been abused by her parents who she alleged were
serial murderers and members of a satanic cult.
Her new memories also included claims that she had been
abused by two members of the Tory cabinet at the Conservative party
headquarters.
Although these allegations were later shown to be false, their
accuracy was never questioned by t…

In 2008, 15-year-old Jordan Cunliffe was sentenced to life in prison for murder. Although the judge accepted he was blind and took no part in the violence that led to the victim's death, he was convicted under a controversial law known as joint enterprise. Mischa Wilmers speaks to his mother about the fight for justice and why her campaign for urgent legal reform is gathering momentum. Janet
Cunliffe is sitting on the living room sofa anxiously awaiting her son’s prison
call. “Jordan phones home every day at six,” she says, adding that he rarely talks
to the media and is unlikely to make an exception for me. Suddenly the phone
rings and she answers it. They chat for several minutes before she mentions that
a journalist wants to speak to him. It’s obvious he’s reluctant, but after some
persuasion she hands over the phone.

We exchange
pleasantries and I ask what life is like in prison. “Boring. Every day is the
same,” he replies. Is…